


Former Hopes and Future Scars

by Havendance



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Baby Zuko gets the good mentor he deserves, Gen, Minor Angst, Mostly at the end, Time Travel, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, but it's never really explained, minor Azula
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24663112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havendance/pseuds/Havendance
Summary: Zuko meets a spirit named Lee on the training grounds. He's got a scar on his face and knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things. For a couple of years, he learns far more than what his tutors teach him.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 667





	Former Hopes and Future Scars

Prince Zuko is practicing his fire bending when he meets the man for the first time. Father is the Fire Lord now, so he has to be good. And since Azula’s better than him and all his instructors sigh and look at him like he’s a failure when he messes up, he’s practicing alone. He’s just messed up the kata for the 17th time in a row (not that he’s keeping track) and is about to start an 18th attempt when a voice interrupts him.

“Try adjusting your stance. Your feet should be closer together.”

The voice is friendly enough but Zuko still starts as he looks up. The man is a stranger. His clothes are common but his hair is long and in the style of the nobility. He’s smiling, but the effect is dampened by the large burn scar which has frozen one eye in a perpetual scowl. Zuko’s never seen anything like it. It’s not polite to stare, but he might be staring at it. Just a little.

“Who are you?” he demands. “And what are you doing here?”

“You can call me Lee.” He shrugs. “And it looked like you could use a few pointers.”

“I don’t need any help. I’ll figure it out.”

“Of course.” Lee smiles again. It’s a laughing sort of smile but before Zuko can tell whether it’s more like a laugh Azula would give, or one that Mother or Uncle would, Lee’s gone, disappeared around a corner.

That’s the moment when Zuko realizes that the man didn’t even bow once during their whole discussion. If this had happened to Azula she’d probably try and burn the man for his disrespect. He’s not Azula though, so he just goes back to practicing. And he does try adjusting his stance. The 18th attempt is a success.

* * *

The next time Zuko goes to practice alone, Lee is already there, bending fire in a way that Zuko’s never seen before. There’s red and orange in the flames, but also flashes of purple and green. It’s beautiful.

“How did you do that? All those colors,” he asks once the form is finished.

Lee doesn’t look surprised to see him there watching. “Practice, and understanding the fire,” he says.

“Could you show me how?”

“It’s something that needs to be discovered, not taught.” He must see the disappointment on Zuko’s face because he adds “I can show you the forms, though.”

The bending that Lee shows him is unlike any of the katas that he’s learned. It’s tricky, moving his body and his fire in new ways. He keeps messing up. But unlike most of the instructors he’s had, Lee doesn’t mind when his form falls apart halfway through. He just offers small corrections and has him run through it again. Zuko’s finally gotten the hang of it and has almost completely made it through when a voice cuts through his concentration.

“Shouldn’t you be practicing real firebending instead of just playing around, Zuzu?”

Zuko stumbles the last steps and nearly falls over. “I am practicing!” he protests once he’s regained his balance. Why does his sister have to be so annoying?

“Really?” Azula smirks. “Because it looks like you’re just dancing around to me.”

“It’s not a dance, it’s a bending form!”

Azula rolls her eyes. “If you say so.”  _ You’re wrong _ , her tone of voice says. “I’ll just leave you to dance by yourself then.” She turns with a little flounce. “Don’t be late for supper,  _ again _ .”

Zuko opens his mouth to explain that he’s not alone. Really, is she blind? And besides, it isn’t his fault his firebending lessons ran late the other day. But Azula’s already left. He turns to apologize to Lee for his sister being so annoying but the training yard’s completely empty. Which is strange because Lee was just there. He doesn’t have much time to wonder about this fact though because it really is nearly supper time and he doesn’t want to be late again. Even though Azula didn’t have to be so rude about pointing it out.

It isn’t until later that evening that Zuko comes to the sudden realization that Lee must be a spirit of some sort. No wonder his fire was so cool.

* * *

Nobody would believe Zuko if he told them that he met a spirit in the practice grounds. Except maybe Uncle and Uncle hasn’t been at the palace since Lu Ten died. But he wants to know just who it is he met and his tutors aren’t going to be any help, so rather than ask them in the first place, he goes to the palace’s library and reads about a million spirit tales in dusty old scrolls. None of them mention a man with a burn on his face and fire of impossible colors so, eventually, Zuko gives up.

* * *

“You’re a spirit, aren’t you?” Zuko asks Lee next time he shows up.

Lee shrugs. “I suppose I am,” he says, which technically isn’t a yes, but it’s close enough.

“Who are you, really? I know your name isn’t Lee.”

Lee raises his eyebrow. “It isn’t?”

“It can’t be,” Zuko insists despite the fact that he’s starting to have doubts. Why doesn’t Lee have to look completely unfazed about this whole conversation? “There aren’t any stories about spirits named Lee. I read them all.”

“Just because no one’s written them down, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

Zuko can’t actually contradict that, but part of him still thinks that if it isn’t in the royal library, it probably isn’t true. “What are you doing here then? Shouldn’t you be doing spirit-y things or something?”

“It looked like you could use some help with your firebending.” Lee smiles. “I’ve got time to do both.”

And then he helps Zuko to finally get the hang of the set he’d been struggling with all week and in the triumph of the moment, Zuko forgets about the fact that he hasn’t gained any satisfying answers to his questions. It probably isn’t important anyway.

* * *

The things Lee teaches him aren’t the things that Father says a prince should be learning. It’s just firebending at first, but then he shows up one day when Zuko’s practicing with his dao (he still thinks they’re cool, even if Father thinks that benders should only rely on their fire) and then all of a sudden, he’s teaching Zuko about all sorts of things. He shows Zuko how to step without making a noise, to slip between shadows without being seen, to climb and dance across rooftops.

The things Lee says are never treason, but they’re never treason in the way that a mold is not the statue cast from it. Even Zuko, deaf as he is to the way that the court avoids saying what they mean, can see the subject that the spirit dances around. He doesn’t listen to the not-treason that Lee says, of course, but the words do take root in his mind. He definitely isn’t thinking about it, except he is, just a little. It’s not like Zuko actually agrees with any of it. And when he tells this to Lee, the spirit just smiles a knowing smile and keeps talking.

* * *

“How did you get that scar?” Zuko asks during one of their training sessions because he has no tact despite being a prince. Also, Lee strikes him as too good of a firebender to just let someone get a hit like that in on him.

“I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and annoyed someone I shouldn’t have.” The answer is short and blunt.

“Oh.” Zuko can’t help but be a little disappointed. He was hoping for a cool story. “Was there a fight?”

Lee laughs, but even Zuko can tell that it’s not a happy laugh. It’s the sort of laugh that Koji the thief gives when he’s about to die in  _ Love Amongst the Dragons _ . A laugh because the alternative is worse laugh. “It wasn’t much of a fight.” For a second, he’s looking at something only he can see, but then he shakes his head and turns back to Zuko. “Enough talk. Show me your bending.”

* * *

The last time Zuko sees Lee is in the halls of the palace. He’s on his way to the war council.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Lee is smiling, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Zuko’s too busy to think too much about it though.

“To the War Council. You’re always saying I should learn more about what’s going on.”

Is that a flinch? It’s so sudden, that Zuko almost thinks he’s imagined it. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lee says. “Maybe you should just ask your Uncle about it instead.”

Zuko rolls his eyes. “Uncle never tells me anything. All he talks about is spirits and tea and proverbs. Why shouldn’t I go? I’m the crown prince.”

“You can’t keep you’re mouth shut.”

They’re nearly to the war room. “Of course I can,” Zuko says.

He can’t.

* * *

After the Agni Kai, after Zuko has been banished from his home and sent on an impossible quest, when he’s lying in his bed with enough pain medication that he really should be asleep right now and maybe he is, he hears a voice. He can’t see who it is, he can’t see anything, not with the bandages over his eyes and his room dark, but he doesn’t need to see to know it’s Lee.

“He shouldn’t have done that to you.” His voice is the whisper of a candle in the night. It’s quiet but every word is perfectly clear to Zuko despite the drug-induced haze around him and the bandages and burn ointment that cover his left ear.

Zuko doesn’t say anything. The things Lee says are never treason. Except that this time, they most definitely are. Zuko can’t agree because he is not a traitor. He is his father’s loyal son. But he can’t disagree either. Not right now. Not after what just happened.

Lee says something else. But it’s even more treasonous than the first thing he said and it’s all lies to boot. Zuko doesn’t want to listen, but once he’s heard it he knows he can never forget. He doesn’t say anything, can’t say anything. There’s nothing to say and his lips are too heavy anyway.

Lee leaves after that, his exit as silent as his entrance was. 

He doesn’t come back.

* * *

There are no spirits in the fire nation who have a burn on their face like the one Zuko saw on Lee. There is, however, a newly banished prince who bears that mark. He doesn’t know what to do with this piece of information, so he ignores it. He has an avatar to find. Honor to regain. He doesn’t have time to waste on the mysteries of his childhood.  ~~He’s still a child~~. So he doesn’t look in mirrors. He bends the way he’s supposed to, not the way Lee showed him. He does his best to forget the man who took the time to teach him about fire and swords and stealth. He definitely doesn’t think about what Lee said to him in that dark room forever ago:

_ You have more honor than Ozai ever did. _

No. He doesn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been sucked so deep into Avatar since rewatching it during quarantine. Also Time Travel is a wonderful trope and I've read a couple of fics where future Zuko talks to banished Zuko but I haven't read any where Future Zuko talks to pre-banished Zuko. So this is filling that gap.


End file.
